A large majority of businesses handle their marketing in-house. Unfortunately, marketing efforts often get overlooked or handed off to someone who knows only a little about how to manage marketing for a brand.

If you’re a “solopreneur”, you may find that you simply have to do everything yourself because outsourcing can be costly.

There is nothing wrong with DIY marketing, but there are a few things you should attempt to avoid.

1. Only talking to your audience when you’re selling.

The majority of small businesses find themselves grasping at straws when it’s time to meet sales numbers. So naturally, social media posts and emails only go out when it’s time to ask for money.

Your brand’s content strategy should focus more on building a relationship with and educating your audience. If they trust you, they will spend money with you. When they spend money with you, they shouldn’t feel like they had a cheap one-night-stand because the communication ended with the sale.

Understanding the process you want your customer to experience is extremely important to building and maintaining a profitable relationship. Most marketers call this sales-funnel development.

2. Not using Call-To-Actions.

Publishing great content is a wonderful step to achieve in the process of marketing your business. It’s just pretty pictures and nice copy if you don’t have a call-to-action.

CTA’s tell your audience where to go next. This means you have to make a place for them to go before asking them to. Don’t forget to add links, instructions, lead pages, or whatever is the next step for potential customers to take. This is a common, yet avoidable, pitfall.

3. Thinking social media is all necessary to market your brand.

Do not do think that social media is all you need. Because social media platforms are free and accessible to all, many people feel that’s all they need to market their business. It’s just not true.

Social media is only one aspect of marketing a business. It’s a great tool, but should only be a part of your process. Marketing 101 would teach you the 4 P’s of marketing are price, place, promotion, and product. Social media falls under promotion, as does digital and print advertising, website development, t-shirts, and pens.

Marketing is far bigger than your social media presence. Spend time creating a strategy that covers all bases. It will make marketing your brand much easier and far more effective.

These are simple mistakes. Mistakes can be corrected. Invest the time, money, and effort in properly marketing your business. Doing what you love and you are passionate about is, actually, the easy part. Do what it takes to take your passion to the right audience.